Image borrowed from LiyJoy Crate Twitter

Hi all

I want to post a review on the three special edition Muse of Nightmares boxes I have purchased from subscription box companies: Behind the Pages, Illumicrateand LitJoy. I was planning on doing one post including all reviews, but due to delays I have decided to separate them.

I will post links to other box reviews on the posts once they have gone up.

This review is for the Dreams & Nightmares box from LiyJoy Crates. This review contains spoilers. All reviews will be an honest review. Reviews include comments on content, price and postage.

LitJoy Crate: Dreams & Nightmares box

Summary: This was as special edition box for Muse of Nightmares. It contained a signed copy of Muse of Nightmares and multiple other items.

Thoughts on contents: I have mixed feelings about the contents of this box. Some items I loved, and some I did not. There was certainly a big range of items, and some items were just not personally for me. I will expand my thoughts further in the “Overall thoughts” section.

But can I say, the box itself was themed beautifully and could have nearly been an item within itself for those who received it without being banged up

Favourite item: Citadel candle would have to be my favourite.

Shipment time: Unable to tell exactly as you do not receive postage notification. Approx 28 days, maybe a day or two longer. See “overall thoughts” section for further explanation.

Thoughts on shipment: I have nothing good to say about the shipment of this box. I had a very unfortunate, and I believe rare, experience. Basically my box took the following route to get to me: LitJoy-LA-Sydney-Canada-San Francisco-West Valley City-Salt Lake City-West Valley City-San Francisco-LA-Melbourne-Me.

Overall thoughts: First the shipping of this box put a major downer on this purchase. I understand that LitJoy cannot control the item once it leaves them, but it does impact on my experience.

On the box itself I have mixed feelings. I did love some items, some I was just okay with, and others I did not really like.

Rating: 3.5/5 for content. 1/5 for shipping.

Overall experience on purchasing this box:

Due to the fact I have a lot of thoughts on this, I will separate them into categories; shipping, spoilers, content and final thoughts.

Shipping: There is no shipment notification on these boxes, which is rather annoying. However you can get a tracking number via your LitJoy Crate account. Sadly this tracking does not indicate when it left the LitJoy warehouse, only when it arrives in LA.

So, first of all, I am going to assume (generously) that the box was dispatched on 2 October as it was processed in LA on 3 October. This box followed the following route: LitJoy-LA-Sydney-Canada-San Francisco-West Valley City-Salt Lake City-West Valley City-San Francisco-LA-Melbourne-Me.

When this item got to Canada (somehow) I contacted LitJoy. They followed up and found the item had been missorted and the item was being returned to Australia. When I asked when this would occur as it had been in Canada for 5 days they followed up again and advised me they had been told by DHL that it had been returned to Australia and I should receive within a week. A few hours after this update it was scanned in San Fran. I once again contacted LiyJoy. Then the item got to West Valley City. By this point LitJoy refunded my postage costs. Then the item arrived in Salt Lake City and they followed up further with DHL and decided to send me another box, which would be dispatched on 19 October.

The second box, I assume was dispatched on 19 October as I was advised but did not get processed in LA until 23 October, where tracking says it is still sitting (we are now in November).. I contacted LiyJoy once it had been sitting in LA for multiple days but was told this was normal – although I do not think it is normal for an item to take so long to leave the country.

However, the original box arrived to me 30 October. A little banged up from going all around the world, but for the most part it was intact. I contacted Litjoy to advise the original arrived and that I would return one of the boxes. To date the second box has not arrived, and does not show it being dispatched from the US, in fact it still is in preshippment stage for the USPS tracking ID, and in LA for the DHL tracking. I am too over it to follow it up to be honest. If it doesn’t arrive in the next few weeks I will let LitJoy know it didn’t arrive so they can follow up with DHL as there seems to be some major issues happening and they need to reimbursed for that one going missing. I have one box, and I am just grateful for that.

As previously stated, I know this was not fault of LitJoy’s. However it is the fault of their shipping partner, so it does reflect on them somewhat, sadly. But I expect more than this for approx $40 shipping, so I am thankful that was refunded by LitJoy.

Spoilers: The other major issue I have is that LitJoy posted spoilers of this box well before I got my box. And taking away the postage issues I personally had, I know other Aussies and Kiwis had not received their box. This spoiler was an autoplay video on Instagram (and also to other social media). I contacted LitJoy expressing my dissatisfaction about them posting spoilers before all customers receive their box. They seemed to take this feedback well and they advised they did not realise that customers hadn’t received their box (although they could check) and they would take this on-board for future posts.At this point I unfollowed LitJoy to avoid further spoilers – I knew they would post more as my postage issues wasn’t the normal postage timeframe, and I know they posted again as someone tagged me in a later post (do not tag people in unboxing posts people!) and I got warned by some considerate friends of spoilers and their Instagram challenge.

Content: So as I previously said, I loved some items, and not others. So I will go through them one by one:

Signed copy of Muse of Nightmares: A signed copy of Muse of Nightmares – of course that is always great, and the main reason why I got this box. However the tip-in (and yes, I expected a tip-in) was not the title page, nor was it even stylised in anyway. It was just a blank page that was generously signed by Laini. I would have liked this to be the title page or at least something pretty one it besides Laini’s lovely signature. I have seen this happen with other books too (mainly from the US). but my personal preference is to have a signed title page or at least a stylised page.

Enamel pin: This is pin is absolutely stunning! I am not a pin person in general – I do not dislike them, but I do not love them like some people. But the design is beautiful and the amount of detail is stunning. I am very happy with this pin.

Lull Tea: I dislike tea. But I knew this box had tea in it, so I was prepared. But the tin the tea is in is really pretty, so I am much happier with this item than I expected.

Linen Spray: This spray is lavendar and sage, and I hate lavendar, so I was never going to like this product. The bottle is a pretty purple though.

Cake mix: This item seemed like an item that was thrown in at the last minute a a filler. I am guessing it was not as there is relevance to cake, but this item was a retail product and did not aesthetically fit. If this item had been packaged specifically it would not seem so out of place, but as a brand item I can see why this could not have been done. This was a cake-in-a cup type cake mix, so placing this inside a Muse of Nightmares related cup/mug would have made this item fit the box so much better.

Citadel Candle: I love everything about this candle. The pretty purple glass jar, the shape of the jar, the scent, the gold inside. I love this item!

Charm bracelet:This is really pretty, but I cannot wear fake jewellery so for me it is just a prop. But for those who can make use of it, it would be a lovely item to have received.

Trading/playing cards: These cards are pretty, but I would prefer these to be postcard print size (or bigger). I am not into trading cards an the size an playing card aspect of them is a bit of downer for me.

Notebook: This is pretty artwork, even though it is not my interpretation of Lazlo and Sarai – this is just personal taste. I am very much a Lesya Blackbird Ink type of person when it comes to artwork for this series.

Booksleeve: This sleeve is very pretty too, even though I don’t like the colour of the top and back. But I can certainly look past that as I do love the design on the front of the sleeve.

Print/Author letter: I thought Minya was an interesting choice for the print, but I loved it! This is my Minya. Lesya has portrayed her perfectly.

Final thoughts: Most of the box, including the box itself, was very aesthetically pleasing, especially for someone like me who loves purple :) Obviously the shipping was a major issue for me, but I do realise this was an abnormal occurrence. However for me as an international customer, this box probably wasn’t worth the price for me personally. A lot of that has to do with the items that are just not for me, but that doesn’t mean others will not absolutely love them! This is always risky when buying boxes, as they cannot cater to everyone’s taste, and I totally understand that. So while I cannot say I loved everything about it, I didn’t hate it either. But due to my experience with the shipping and spoilers, and the items included, I can’t say I would jump back into buying another box soon.

Further images of individual items are below.

General information:

Location: I am based in Australia, so comments relating to shipping are based on that. I am located in nearly the furthest place possible, for both Australian and internationally based boxes. So this would be a good estimate based on worst case scenario.

Shipping: I know once the item has left the subscription box companies hand, it is out of their control. But they have chosen these carriers, so there is an element of this that does reflect on the company. I do not attribute the delivery itself to the company, either positive or negative, but I do judge them based on who they choose to use. I also know that these companies have limited control over pricing of shipment, as they are set by the carriers and the only choice the company has is which carrier they choose (which sometimes is limited).

Price: All prices are in AUD unless otherwise stated.

Disclaimer: I am friends with two owners of the companies from which I have made these purchases. I did however pay for these boxes and the fact I am friends with the company owner has has not impacted my review in any way. Money talks people.